Supplemental counterbalance



. 5, 1944. L. scHAUER SUPPLEMENTAL COUNTERBALANGE Filed March 25 ,Y 1944 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENToR. r

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SUPPLEMENTAL' COUNTERBALANCE 'F'iled Marsh 25, 1944 2 sheets-sheet 2 @fam BY @MKM Patented Dec. 5, 1944 SUPPLEMENTAL COUNTERBALANCE Lawrence Lee Schauer, Wyoming, Ohio, assignor to The Cincinnati Bickford Tool` Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application Mama 25, 1944, serial No. 528,069 2 claims. (c1. 7,7436) The spindle in a drilling machine is usually arranged vertically and hence its weight acts to urge it downwardly and resist its shift upwardly; making its up and .down manual feed diiicult to manage. Conventionally, therefore, it' is counter-weighted and thereby may be manipulated with equal ease up aswell as down.

Habitually, the'counter-weight. is built into the machine as a part of the machine. Various types or ways of countering the weight of the spindle has heretofore been resorted to; as for example, by a weight and chain over a pulley, by springs, fluid pressure, etc. The entire meche anism is generally enclosed and as compactly arranged as dimensions permit. The counterweighting is of suicient magnitude to compensate for the Weight of the spindle, and provi sion is made in the better types to provide ad.- justments having a range adequate to balance the weight of such parts (as drills, chucks, etc.) as are more usually attached to the end of the spindle and are carried thereby.

Occasionally, however, a drilling machine so organized may be wanted for special-purpose duty of a sort that requires' an auxiliary of unusual weight to be attached to and carried by the spindle; as for example, an auxiliary in the nature of a multiple-drill unit. Of course, the regular counter-weighting (which was designed to carry the general run of loads) could not be expected to be sufficiently strong to also carry a unit of more than ordinary Weight. The obvious remedy for such special occasions is to resort to a supplemental means providing additional counter-weighting. It remained for the designer to determine the preferred" nature of such supplemental means which can best bev conceived as an attachment to the regular mechanism of the drilling machine.

Inasmuch as the lower or working end of the spindle needs to be employed for'otherpurposes, the point of application of the extra lifting force should be located either at an intermediate portion, or preferably at or near its upper end. It remains, then, to design the specific type of means for counter-balancing deemed most suitable for application as an auxiliary attachment for the upper portion of the drill head and the upper portion of the spindle journaled therein.

The aim of the present invention is to contrve such an upper auxiliary in as simple a form as possible by resorting to parts or subunits which the manufacturer of the drilling machine has already in stock; avoiding the making of Special mechanisms 0r of resorting to expenei-ve Constructions.: 1

Other objects .and advantages wll'lee in part indicated in the following description and in part rendered apparent therefrom in connection with the annexed' drawings.

To enable others skilled in theart so fully to apprehend theunderlying features hereof that they may embody the same in the Various Ways contemplated by this invention, drawings .depicting a preferred typical construction have been annexed as a part `of this disclosure and,

insuch drawings, like characters of reference denote corresponding parts throughout all the views, 0f which: l

Figure 1 isa vertical section of a portion of aconventional drill head to which this invention has been applied. Fig. 2 is a vertical sec.- tion through the center of the supplemental counter-poise. f i

In a conventional drilling machine, the regular spindle l is journaled in a sleeve 2 which isimounted to be translatable (but not rotatable) ina `frame portion 3 of the drillhead 4 which is usually shiftable on a radial arm, not shown. The rotatable spindle is shiftable vertically indirectly by a gear 5, either manually or automatically. This gear operates directly on the sleeve 2 in which the spindle is shouldered so as to partake of the translations thereof and also so as vto enable the sleeve to carry the weight yof the spindle and such parts thereon as may be Within the capacity of the regular counterpo1se. plished by means of a, gearing 6 and 1 acting on its upper splinedportion 8, this being within the knowledge of the art and need not be further detailed. The regular counter-poise mechanism 9 embodies a iusee Ill carrying a link chain Ilwhich is appropriately attached at I2 to the sleeve at or near its upper end. Inasmuch as the sleeve is held against rotation, there is no tendency toward twisting the chain when it is fully drawn out of the counter-poise casing during the lowering of the spindle. As

has been previously remarked, this regular counter-poise is adequate for all such ordinary tools as are usually afxed to the lower end I3 of the spindle. Reasonable variations in weight are readily taken care of by an adjusting worm I4 forming an operating part of the regular counter-poise. But all this will not answer if it be desired to suspend from'the lower end of the spindle any unusually heavy attachment such, for example, as a multiple drill head of The rotation of the spindle is accom# the type now being sold on the market for the purpose of being applied to drilling machines Where it is desired to drill a number of relatively small holes simultaneously and where the total power required is within the torque capacity of the spindle. Such heads are quite heavy and, unless they can be counter-poised, undue or unusual effort is required by the attendant when operating the lifting lever or wheel. To remedy this is the province of this invention.

A counter-poise mechanism I5 identical with those used on the heavier types of radial drills will usually be found of ample capacity. This saves the necessity of re-designing or building a special mechanism and this is quite important in manufacturing economy. This counterpoise is identical also with the regular one shown on the drawings except that it is larger and stronger and it likewise follows the general design of that described in U. S. Patent No. 1,729,583 to Klausmeyer, Sept. 24, 1929. The present drawings show a pair of flat helical coil springs I6 attached at their inner ends to a spindle I1 which at one end carries a worm wheel I8 meshing with a worm shaft I9 exposed at its outer end to be capable of being adjusted by a wrench. This enables the tension of the springs to be increased or decreased. At their counter-ends they act upon a drum having a fusee 2I around which rides a .chain 22. It is required that this chain be attached to the upper end of the spindle in a manner such that it will neither partake of the rotations thereof nor be twisted when the spindle is depressed. To accomplish the first purpose the upper end of the spindle is provided with a ball bearing 23 to which is attached at 24 the chain. When in its uppermost position, it is obvious that the small wheel 25 about which the chain rides is sufliciently close to the ball bearing to prevent any turning thereof during the rotation of the spindle and if this ball bearing be free-running it will likewise remain stationary even when the spindle be fully depressed. But the accumulation of dirt or the lack of oil may sufficiently increase the friction so that when the spindle is depressed the chain might be unable to resist the torque.

To preclude against any such possibility, a

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of this invention that others can, by applying current knowledge, readily adapt it for various utilizations by retaining one or more of the features that, from the standpoint of the prior art, fairly constitute essential characteristics of either the generic or specific aspects of this invention and, therefore, such adaptations should be, and are intended to be, comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalency of the following claims.

Having thus revealed this invention, I claim as new and desire to secure the following combinations and elements, or equivalents thereof, by Letters Patent of the United States:

1. A shiftable but non-rotatable sleeve; a vertical spindle journaled at its lower end thereto to be shiftable thereby; a counter-poise operative directly on said sleeve; an extension having its lower end rotatably attached to the upper end of said spindle to shift but not rotate therewith; and a supplemental counter-poise operatively attached to the lower end of said extension at a point adjacent its attachment to said spindle.

2. A- frame; a non-rotatable sleeve vertically slidable therein; ay counter-poise operative directly on said sleeve; a spindle having its lower portion journaled in said sleeve; a gear splined to said spindle above said sleeve for rotating said spindle; an extension journaled to the upper end of said spindle and having its upper portion splined to said frame; and a supplemental counter-poise operative directly on said extension.

LAWRENCE LEE SCHAUER. 

